Cartoon Journalism in The Nation

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date December 6, 2020

My brilliant cartoon-journalist daughter, Susie Cagle, graces the cover of the current issue of The Nation magazine. Susie does original reporting in cartoon form.

Most cartoon-journalists draw in an autobiographical format, drawing themselves reporting a story or depicting themselves as part of a story. Cartoonists often illustrate the work of journalists; the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartoons in 2018 was awarded to a cartoonist who illustrated the work of a journalist, something many cartoonists don’t consider to be either editorial cartooning or cartoon-journalism, rather it is simply “illustration.”

Traditional editorial cartoonists, who draw their own opinions, consider themselves journalists; we are graphic columnists – but original, non-autobiographical reporting by cartoonists is very rare. It is great to see The Nation embrace real cartoon-journalism.

Susie’s cover article reports on how hospitals are crippled by big-money monopolies at a critical time. Here are some excerpts. See the whole article.

Support Susie on Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/susie

Tags cartoon-journalism, coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID19, Eli Lilly, Gilead Systems, HCA Healthcare, health care, magazine cover, medicine, monopolies, pandemic, Providence, Pulitzer Prize, Scension, Susie Cagle, The Nation, vaccine

Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – December 5, 2020

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date December 5, 2020

Here are our most reprinted cartoons of last week (November 28th through December 5th 2020). The Top Ten cartoons were tightly bunched, and all were big hits with editors.

Five of the cartoons had Christmas themes. Seven of the cartoons are about the pandemic. As usual, no drawings of Trump were popular with newspaper editors. No cartoons about foreign issues were popular. 20% of the cartoons get 80% of the reprints – that means the Top Ten cartoons are what readers see.

Dave Whamond had a great week again this week, with strong #1 and #4 cartoons. RJ Matson had a very impressive week, with the #2 and #6 cartoons. Dave Granlund is also second to no one with two cartoons in the Top Ten.

Congratulations to the other cartoonists with the most reprinted cartoons of the week, John Darkow, Rick McKee, Adam Zyglis and Jeff Koterba who continues his long streak in the Top Ten.

Our Top Ten is a measure of how many editors choose to reprint each of our cartoons, from the 62 cartoonists in our CagleCartoons.com syndication package. Just about half of America’s daily, paid circulation newspapers (around 700 papers) subscribe to CagleCartoons.com.

Our reader supported site, Cagle.com, still needs you! Journalism is threatened with the pandemic that has shuttered newspaper advertisers. Some pundits predict that a large percentage of newspapers won’t survive the pandemic economic slump, and as newspapers sink, so do editorial cartoonists who depend on newspapers, and along with them, our Cagle.com site, that our small, sinking syndicate largely supports, along with our fans.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

#1

Dave Whamond wins the week with this very popular Christmas/pandemic cartoon.

#2

RJ Matson takes second place with his first of two cartoons in the Top Ten.

#3

John Darkow snags third place with this about the female football player at Vanderbilt – a topic that editors clearly wanted to see in cartoons.

#4

Dave Granlund is tied for 4th place again with the first of his three cartoons in the Top Ten.

#4

Dave Whamond is also tied for 4th place with his second cartoon on the most reprinted list. Editors love cartoons that complain about how terrible this year has been.

#6

RJ Matson takes 6th place with this beautiful rendering. Waterfalls are hard to draw, the Capitol building is hard to draw, and it is hard to make this dramatic perspective work. This one is an eye-popper.

#7

Jeff Koterba claims 7th place with another Christmas/pandemic cartoon. Jeff seems to have carved out a permanent home on the weekly Top Ten.

#8

Dave Granlund is tied for 8th place with his second cartoon in the Top Ten.

#8

Rick McKee shares the tie for 8th place. Editors don’t seem to shy away from Biden cartoons, as they do with Trump cartoons, but cartoonists don’t draw Biden often.

#10

Adam Zyglis avoids drawing a self-portrait in this auto-biographical cartoon.

Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS! See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – November 28, 2020

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 28, 2020

Here are our most reprinted cartoons of last week (November 21st through November 28th 2020). The Top Ten cartoons dominated newspaper editors’ choices again this week. The top three cartoons did especially well.

Six holiday cartoons made the list; seven of the cartoons were about the pandemic. No drawings of Trump or Biden were popular with newspaper editors. No cartoons about foreign issues were popular. The Top Ten cartoons dominated the choices of editors, again this week.

Dave Granlund had a great week with a very popular #1 cartoon and two cartoons in the Top Ten. Dave Whamond and Jeff Koterba also had impressive weeks, each with two cartoons on the list.

Congratulations to the other cartoonists who had the most reprinted cartoons this week: Steve Sack, Dave Fitzsimmons, John Cole and Rick McKee.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

#1

Dave Granlund with this Christmas/pandemic cartoon. Editors started printing Christmas cartoons before Thanksgiving.

#2

Dave Whamond takes second place with this sad and charming winter pandemic cartoon.

#3

Steve Sack snags third place with this Thanksgiving/pandemic cartoon.

#4

Jeff Koterba wins 4th place again this week with this Thanksgiving/pandemic cartoon – and again this week, it is Jeff’s first of two cartoons on the list.

#5

Dave Fitzsimmons takes fifth place combining three things that resonate with newspaper editors: Grandma, Thanksgiving and the pandemic.

#6

John Cole takes 6th place with this vaccine cartoon.

#7

Jeff Koterba is tied for 7th place with this Thanksgiving/pandemic cartoon.

#7

Rick McKee shares the tie for 7th place.

#9

Dave Whamond takes 9th place, even though editors tend to avoid cartoons that criticize Trump.

#10

Dave Granlund takes both 10th place and first place this week.

Tags carry out, Christmas, coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID19, grandma, most popular, most reprinted, pandemic, pilgrims, Santa Claus, snow globe, stay at home, Thanksgiving, travel, Trump Hotel, vaccine, Zoom

Blog Newsletter Syndicate

COVID Christmas

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 27, 2020

A day after Thanksgiving and the cartoonist all turn to Christmas. (Actually they were starting to draw Christmas cartoons well before Thanksgiving, but I waited until the day after.)

My cartoon is inspired by the tree in A Charlie Brown Christmas. I love Peanuts and this classic TV special.

A little love won’t help with the pandemic this Christmas, but some common sense, limiting travel and wearing masks will help.

The Charlie Brown Christmas tree is not an uncommon metaphor in editorial cartoons. After I drew my COVID tree I did a search in our vast PoliticalCartoons.com database and I found this nice one from CagleCartoonist Dave Whamond.

Going back farther, I found this one by CagleCartoonist Milt Priggee, from ten years ago.

That’s the Obama/Biden campaign logo on the ornament. I can’t remember what was going on that would make Milt draw this, two years after Obama’s election, but I like Milt’s tree better than mine. Charlie Brown’s tree always leans to the left; leaning to the right is wrong – maybe Milt didn’t like Obama leaning to the right.

Want to get EVERY new CagleCartoon from our 62 syndicated newspaper editorial cartoonists, in your email box every day? Just become a Cagle.com HERO and you get the exclusive daily emails of ALL THE CARTOONS! See all the cartoons before the newspapers print them and never miss a cartoon!

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

Tags A Charlie Brown Christmas, by All of the Top Cartoonists, christmas tree, COVID-19, COVID19, holidays, ornament, pandemic, Schulz Retires, superspreader, Xmas

Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Thanksgiving Transition

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 24, 2020

Here’s my new “Do it Yourself” Thanksgiving Transition Cartoon. It requires a printer, a pair of scissors and some glue.

Yes, I know that scissors and glue are old school. I’m old too. Here are some more of my favorite Thanksgiving Transition cartoons from the CagleCartoonists.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – November 21, 2020

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 21, 2020

Here are our most reprinted cartoons of last week (November 14th through November 21st 2020). The Top Ten cartoons dominated newspaper editors’ choices this week with all ten tightly bunched, close to equally popular and far ahead of the rest of the cartoons in reprints.

Thanksgiving/pandemic combo cartoons were most popular this week, with six of these making the Top Ten. Again, no drawings of Trump were popular with editors, even while Trump continues to dominate the news. Editors avoided scores of cartoons about the messy presidential transition, crazy Rudy Guiliani and claims of election fraud. As usual, no foreign topics were popular with American editors. Only one cartoon on the list (Bob Englehart at #2) expresses a political view, however mildly – unless concern about the pandemic is considered a political view.

Congratulations to Dave Whamond for his #1 cartoon. Kudos to Jeff Koterba and Dave Fitzsimmons who both have two cartoons in the Top Ten!

And congrats to the other cartoonists who made the Top Ten list this week: Bob Englehart, John Darkow, Dave Granlund, Bruce Plante, and me.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

#1

Dave Whamond’s Thanksgiving/pandemic/Rockwell cartoon takes first place.

#2

Bob Englehart takes second place with one of the few political cartoons mentioning politics that editors liked this week.

#3

John Darkow snags third place with this Thanksgiving/pandemic cartoon.

#4

Jeff Koterba wins 4th place with another Thanksgiving/pandemic cartoon, the first of two cartoons on the list for Jeff.

#5

Dave Granlund takes fifth place with yet another Thanksgiving/pandemic cartoon.

#6

Bruce Plante nabs 6th place with yet another Thanksgiving/pandemic cartoon.

#7

Jeff Koterba mixes up 7th place with a New Years/pandemic cartoon. Editors love cartoons about how bad 2020 is. This is the first of two cartoons on the Top Ten about the new vaccines and it is Jeff’s second cartoon in the Top Ten this week.

#8

Daryl Cagle (that’s me) takes 8th place with the second vaccine cartoon on the list.

#8

Dave Fitzsimmons is tied for 8th place with this Pandemic/Back to School/Zoom/Kitty cartoon. Gotta love kitties.

#10

Dave Fitzsimmons takes 10th place with his second Top Ten cartoon and the sixth Thanksgiving/pandemic cartoon on the list this week.

Tags Baby New Year, cats, coronavirus, COVID-19, health care workers, herding cats, holiday, kitties, norman rockwell, pandemic, pilgrims, Thanksgiving, Turkey, vaccine, VODIV19

Blog Newsletter Syndicate

VACCINE!

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 17, 2020

Today we got news of a new vaccine, from the drug giant Moderna, that is 95% effective against COVID19. This comes shortly after the news from drug giant Pfizer of a vaccine that is 90% effective, but more difficult to deal with – both are great news. Here’s my cartoon …

This one is from Kevin Siers …

This one is by Jordanian cartoonist, Emad Hajjaj.

This is by Emad’s CagleCartoonist brother, Osama Hajjaj, also from Jordan.

This one is by Dutch CagleCartoonist, Joep Bertrams.

This new vaccine bomb comes from our CagleCartoonist in Oaxaca, Mexico – Dario Castillejos.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – November 14, 2020

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date November 14, 2020

Here are our most reprinted cartoons of last week (November 7th through November 14th 2020). This week the editors flocked to the same cartoons, as usual, with the few, most popular cartoons far outpacing the rest.

This week’s #1 cartoon by Jeff Koterba is the second most reprinted editorial cartoon of the year, and it may yet overtake Dave Granlund’s #1 cartoon of the year so far, from three weeks ago. The #2 cartoon by Dave Whamond would have been a strong #1 in a typical week where the usage curve wasn’t quite so steep.

Dave Whamond and Dave Granlund both impress with two cartoons each on the Top Ten. Hearty congratulations to the other cartoonists with the most reprinted cartoons this week, Dave Fitzsimmons, Pat Byrnes, Monte Wolverton, Randy Enos and Gary McCoy.

The most popular topic this week was Alex Trebek. Only two cartoons referencing the pandemic made the Top Ten list. Cartoonists drew scores of cartoons about Trump’s refusal to accept the election results this week, but only three were popular with editors who ignored most of these cartoons.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

#1

Jeff Koterba‘s #1 cartoon was the most reprinted cartoon of the week by far.

#2

Dave Whamond has the first of three Alex Trebek obit cartoons in the Top Ten. Editors seem to love cartoons that marvel at what a bad year 2020 is.

#3

Dave Whamond also nabs third place. In a week where Trump’s refusal to accept the election results dominated the news, few cartoons on the topic were popular with newspaper editors.

#4

Dave Fitzsimmons takes 4th place with the second Alex Trebek cartoon on the list.

#5

Dave Granlund takes fifth place with the third Alex Trebek obit cartoon.

#6

Dave Granlund also takes 6th place.

#7

Pat Byrnes nabs 7th place.

#8

Monte Wolverton takes 8th place.

#9

Randy Enos nabs 9th place with this nice pandemic cartoon.

#10

Gary McCoy wraps up the Top Ten with this Veterans Day cartoon. In other years, Veterans Day got more attention from both editors and cartoonists.

Tags Alex Trebek, autumn, Biden, coronavirus, COVID19, editorial cartoons, election 2012, fall, Jeopardy, Joe Biden, oval office, pandemic, political cartoons, trump, Veterans Day, White House

Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – October 31, 2020

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date October 31, 2020

Here are our most reprinted cartoons of last week (October 24th, through October 31st, 2020). Newspaper editors flocked to the same, few cartoons and most of the cartoons got little or no exposure. Cartoons mentioning Trump or Biden were unpopular with editors again this week.

Editors’ collective preference for a handful of cartoons was never clearer to see as the #1 and #2 cartoons this week were also the #1 and #2 cartoons of the year, since we started keeping comparative usage statistics last January. Congratulations to Dave Granlund for his runaway #1 cartoon and to Dave Whamond for his #2 of the week and year.

Special congratulations to John Darkow who has two cartoons in the Top Ten this week, and kudos to the other cartoonists with the most reprinted cartoons: Gary McCoy, Jeff Koterba, Chris Weyant, Pat Bagley, Bob Englehart and Dave Fitzsimmons.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

#1

Dave Granlund’s #1 cartoon was a runaway hit with newspaper editors and our most reprinted cartoon of the year.

#2

Dave Whamond drew the #2 most popular cartoon of both the week and the year.

#3

Gary McCoy takes 3rd place with the first of four Halloween cartoons in the Top Ten.

#4

Jeff Koterba claims 4th place.

#5

John Darkow takes the five spot with the first of two cartoons in the Top Ten.

#6

John Darkow also takes 6th place with his second of two cartoons in the Top Ten.

#7

Chris Weyant nabs 7th place.

#8

Pat Bagley is tied for 8th place.

#8

Bob Englehart shares 8th place.

#10

Dave Fitzsimmons caps off the Top Ten with this cartoon.

Please forward this to your friends – tell them our Cagle.com email newsletters are FREE and FUN! They can join the newsletter list at Cagle.com/subscribe.

Tags campaign, coronavirus, COVID19, editors, election 2012, Fauci, Halloween, Moon, most popular cartoons, Most reprinted cartoons, newspapers, pandemic, Uncle Sam, vote, water

Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Church Superspreaders

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date October 28, 2020

Here’s my new one about COVID super spreader churches.

This is a recurring theme, where big, conservative churches that take a Trumpy, casual attitude about the pandemic, insist on holding their indoor, massless, mass events with singing, no distancing, and lots of disease spreading.

This church/hands thing is a kind of standard for editorial cartoonists, like the Hokey Pokey or the theme from Gilligan’s Island, or the Cats Cradle game. Some years ago I drew a similar cartoon about Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, and I lifted the first panel for the new cartoon. The perspective on the hands in the first panel is odd, because we usually see the other side, with the thumbs as doors, but that is the view of the person who is performing this, and not the observer, and I like flipping it open with the thumbs on the close side. Yes, I think about all this stuff.

The oldie wasn’t a very strong cartoon. The first panel was fine, but I didn’t like the awkward second panel hands – that needed a redo, so I drew my own hands today. (There seems to be some disagreement about whether the “people” should properly be presented upright or upside-down.)

And I drew some coronavirus and assembled this in Photoshop.

That’s your recipe for a church pandemic cartoon.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

Tags christian, Christianity, church, contraception, coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID19, hands, health, medical, nursery rhyme, Obamacare, pandemic, religion, steeple, superspreader

Blog Newsletter Syndicate

Heard Immunity

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date October 18, 2020

I don’t draw many crowd scenes, but the dangerous, maskless, science denying Trump crowds seem to be the story today. Here’s a detail from my new cartoon …

And here’s my new cartoon about “Heard Immunity” with a Trump rally-herd of COVID fodder.

And here’s the rough sketch. It’s crazy that people want to see the sketches.

Blog Newsletter Syndicate Top 10

Top Ten Cartoons of the Week – October 17, 2020

Post author By Daryl Cagle
Post date October 17, 2020

Here are our most reprinted cartoons of last week (October 10th, through October 17th, 2020). As usual, no drawings of President Trump were popular with newspaper editors. Typically 20% of the cartoons get 80% of the reprints; this week it is more like 10% of the cartoons getting 90% of the reprints as less popular cartoons got little or no ink and editors flocked to the same cartoons.

My own cartoon from last Sunday was #1 this week, by a big margin; in fact, it is the most reprinted cartoon since we starting keeping comparative download stats from subscribing newspaper editors at the beginning of the year.

Dave Whamond also stood well above the crowd with a #2 cartoon that would have been a strong #1 in any other week. Dave and I both had two cartoons on the Top Ten this week. Congratulations to the other cartoonists who made the unusually hot Top Ten this week, Dave Fitzsimmons, Steve Sack, Dave Granlund, Rick McKee, Kevin Siers and RJ Matson.

The world needs political cartoonists more now than ever. Please consider supporting Cagle.com and visit Cagle.com/heroes. We need you! Don’t let the cartoons die!

#1

My own cartoon nabbed first place this week (and this year, so far), outpacing the pack by a big margin. See the Daryl Cagle archive.

#2

Dave Whamond had a #2 cartoon that was unusually popular with editors; it is Dave’s first of two cartoons in the Top Ten.

#3

Dave Fitzsimmons takes 3rd place. It looks like “Halloween in these crazy times” is what editors want.

#4

Dave Whamond takes 4th place with his second of two cartoons in the Top Ten.

#5

RJ Matson nabs 5th place as Republicans get closer to killing Obamacare.

#6

My own “Halloween in these crazy times” cartoon is tied for 6th place. See the Daryl Cagle archive.

#6

Rick McKee shares 6th place with his “Halloween in these crazy times” cartoon.

#8

Dave Granlund takes 8th place with another “Halloween in these crazy times” cartoon.

#9

Steve Sack takes 9th place.

#10

And Kevin Siers takes the ten spot with a COVID “these crazy times” cartoon.

Please forward this to your friends – tell them our Cagle.com email newsletters are FREE and FUN! They can join the newsletter list at Cagle.com/subscribe.

Tags 2020, aca, Amy Coney Barrett, civil war, covid, COVID-19, COVID19, crazy, Frankenstein, Halloween, masks, most popular cartoons of the week, most reprinted cartoons of the week, newspapers, pandemic, scotus, White House

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